Meet the Tiny Company Behind the Experimental Antibodies for Ebola

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The companies manufacturing an experimental drug treating two American Ebola patients aren’t among the largest multinational pharmaceuticals in the world. In fact, leading the effort is a small nine-employee firm in San Diego.

Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., founded in 2003, says on its website that it develops “novel pharmaceuticals for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, focusing on unmet needs in global health and biodefense.”

Mapp’s commercialization arm is LeafBio Inc., which has no employees and just two owners, Mapp President Larry Zeitlin tells ABC News.

Mapp, along with LeafBio and Defyrus Inc. in Toronto, Canada, collaborated to create the trademarked ZMapp.